Author Interview w/ M.E. Kalous

September 3, 2024

Author Interview w/ M.E. Kalous

Written Author Interview

Tell me about yourself. What do you like to do outside of writing. What is a day in the life like for you?
I’m odd. “Normal” has never been a word used to describe me, and I sort of love that. Outside of writing I try to stay healthy, do all those things on the adulting checklist that other adults have provided for me (exercise, eating right, not murdering people who annoy you, etc). I read a lot (obviously) and I play D&D. (That’s Dungeons and Dragons
to those non-nerds). I’m actually going to try my hand at running a one-off game soon and it’s nerve-wracking as hell and I definitely need to start preparing.

2. What inspired your first novel? What was the thing that got you into writing in the first place?
This is tricky. So, the first scene that ever game came to me was actually a kiss aboard a ship at sunset… this scene is now WILDLY different in Dawning of the Sun, but it’s still there. Pirates of the Caribbean certainly has a large part on the creation. (I had a minor
obsession with Orlando Bloom when the original came out… I was young, don’t judge.) I took a class in university on Dante’s Divine Comedies and the Inferno definitely helped the landscape of my underworld, or the Netherveil as the Aurtanians call it. I’ve always loved words. I remember writing a story about a baby chick on a farm in kindergarten. Stories have always fueled my existence. I remember making elaborate backstories for all my toys. Writing was just the way for me to put down the stories that littered the expanse of my chaotic mind.

3. How do you come up with characters? Are they spontaneous or meticulously planned?
Characters assault my thoughts. They appear from wherever they are birthed in the depths of my psyche and start tormenting me until I write their stories.

4. What are some of your favorite genres to read? Are there any books you’d recommend to first time readers or people looking for something new?
I’ve always been a fantasy reader, but as I get older I have fallen in love with fairy tale retellings. I’m not talking about the same old fairy tales written in the same old way with a twist… I’m talking about the ones that make fairy tales their own. I love Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver and Uprooted and I recently read Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher and it was fantastic. I also love mythologies and I’m trying my hand at getting back into sci-fi.

5. What’s the most difficult thing about being a writer?
Self-doubt. I battle with it constantly as a writer. I think most of us do, but I am rarely confident that my work is any good, despite the chorus of colleagues, family, and friends that explain to me that I’m actually quite good at it.

6. What is your process for completing a novel from outline to final product?

It is heavily dependent on what I’m writing. But, for the Aeternum series I usually have a basic plotline written out. Just bullet points that state where I need the action to go. Then I just write. I let my characters lead me from point A to B and see what happens. Once that first draft is done I read through it and make a ton of plot changes. I’ll scrap entire subplots and timelines at this phase. Then it’s relentless little changes. I’ll do about six full manuscript edits before I hand it off to betas and have them provide insights. Then it’s back to the revisions and on and on until I’m ready to query (or publish myself).

7. What’s the most unhinged thing you’ve written in your novel? Don’t worry, we don’t judge here.
I think the MOST unhinged is still yet to come (I’ve got a very dark Victorian era Dexter type story brewing). But, for Dawning of the Sun it’s likely a scene where the main character, Sol Vesper, goes on a rampage and slutters a bunch of slavers. This might be why one of my ARC readers called the novel “dark.”

8. What’s one thing about being a writer that absolutely drives you up the wall?
Solicitations for paid reviews and collaborations. I am self-published. I paid out of pocket for everything I’ve done. I’m tapped. There’s nothing left.

9. What does being a successful writer look like for you? What type of life do you want to live as a writer?
Becoming a full time writer, as in quitting my day job and still making the same money, is success. I’ve made it if I can manage that. I have a well paid job with benefits and pension and the whole thing so leaving would be hard, but if I can live my life and just
write for a living, that is the dream existence for me.

10. Describe your writing journey. If you had to write a story centered around it, do you think you could pull it off?
I could, but I don’t think anyone would read it. It would probably be just me sitting in a room arguing with the various versions of myself and my characters. It would be just dark humor, sarcasm, and awkward silences. I’d also probably get whiplash for ripping off the plot of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.